While tidying up some old add files I found these..

2005, Dirt Magazine, rider Gareth Dyer

2005, MBUK Magazine, 'The All Mountain' with Thomas Vanderham

2006, technology 

2007, MBUK, rider Andreu Lacondeguy

2007, Bomber Girl

2008, Singletrack Magazine, rider Niki Gudex

2009, MBR

2010, Dirt, Rider Richie Schley

There have been many things written about the San Andreas, pioneer, classic, icon while all of these are true, they have also all been extensively written about before, so I’ll give you only a brief history lesson.
Mountain Cycle was formed by Robert Reisinger and unleashed the San Andreas in 1991. He brought for the first time a monocoque full suspension frame with adjustable sub frame, suspension fork and disc brakes. Just one of these would of been remarkable but all of them together... 

The San Andreas first came on my radar when a UK journalist called Paul Smith had one, it featured as a full page poster in MBUK and was/is the only picture of a bicycle I ever had on the garage wall. I loved the fact it looked like a 500cc GP motorcycle with the engine removed, ultra tech and ultra cool in a world full of steel rigid bikes.

In 2003 the company for which I work became the UK distributer for Mountain Cycle, so I had to have one. We sold the frame set in two guises, DH with a 190mm eye to eye shock (Van R or Van RC) or XC with a 165mm (Float RL or X-Fusion). So a San Andreas XC in red with an x-fusion coil shock (cheapest option) came my way.
When we started distribution the production had just moved to Kinesis USA, but still built in Mountain Cycle’s traditional Portland home. The frame featured an up-rated cartridge pivot bearing, a new shock shuttle and was compatible with a new bolt on fork stop to prevent damage to the frame caused by triple clamps.

At the time there was a very negative magazine test, mostly targeting the high b/b height. Being a US made bike it was actually designed that way for rock clearance, however it felt a little weird for the UK testers... This led me to experiment with the adjustable shock shuttle to see if I can ‘iron’ out some of the frames weaknesses and to get it to handle more like the UK norm. The official MC line at the time was that the bottom two holes were exclusively for the shorter shock, while the upper two holes were for the longer (DH) shock. In the owner’s manual it did actually say not to use the upper holes with the XC shock, but if you could, it would lower the b/b height to a reasonable level...  *note below image with the shock shuttle in the official setting! 

I spoke to the factory and they could not suggest any reason why you could not use the upper shock mounts so told me to have a play to see what happens. I ended up at the highest shock hole with the smaller 165mm shock; this dropped the b/b to 13” and slacked the head tube to a more stable angle. For me this gave the best compromise and is a set up I would whole heartedly recommend to try, the bike will only have 4 ½” of travel but the improved handling will by far compensate for this.  I sold my San Andreas and moved on to other things, but the bike always had a special place in my personal cycling history... Until I spotted an online dealer selling a new-old-stock 2003 model on clearance, it was so cheap it was insane, I had to have it. Built up with the same RAC carbon fork I will never sell this bike, it is now part of me.
One new upgrade I have made is to swap out the old FOX Float to a ROCO Air LO, it keeps the back end in check and because the ROCO is a low pressure unit it has enabled me to lose about 50psi of pressure.

In summery it is now old tech, has a high pivot, bobs a bit, doesn’t have much travel ...etc... Of course none of this really matters; cycling is about much more than that. In a world of big corporate cycle companies with instantly forgettable models the San Andreas still stands out today as something very special.

Windwave will once again be located in the lounge next to the reception and will be representing BBB, Colnago, FSA, Marzocchi, Nokon, A2Z and Ice Toolz products.

BBB design and produce a comprehensive range of parts and accessories that are suitable for every day riders to the very top of pro competition. At Core bike we will be presenting the BBB range and the BBB sales concept. The BBB concept is a self-service retail system with smart, well thought out POS units designed to maximise sell though and promote multiple purchases. Our BBB salesman will be on hand to discuss which sales solution can work best for you?

The pinnacle of the 2012 Colnago range is the handmade, carbon fibre framed C59 Italia. Campaigned successfully in this year’s Tour de France by Thomas Voeckler, the C59 offers the highest technology crossed with classic Italian style. The best selling CLX model has been updated for 2012 with an updated tube set to accommodate a tapered head tube. The CLX is available as a frame and fork or with three group set options, 105, Ultegra and Ultegra Di2.

FSA continue to lead the industry with the introduction of the 386EVO bottom bracket standard. The 386 EVO offers a one-crank-fits-all solution to all the confusing bb standards currently on the market. FSA’s product range has now become clearer with all products falling in to family groups, making it easier to supply cockpit products or matching customers existing components. New products for 2012 include the Afterburner, V Drive and Comet groups and the new Orbit Option angle adjustable headsets.
Marzocchi are back with their strongest product line yet with models starting from £199 for the Marathon R to the championship winning and range topping 888RC3 Evo V2 Titanium. All models are backed up with an industry leading 3 year warranty and with no compulsory servicing or funny maintenance routines to adhere to, Marzocchi is the only truly ‘fit and forget’ suspension product on the market. Marzocchi also have TWO models in the 2012 Dirt 100, the 888RC3 Evo V2 Ti and 55RC3 Evo TI.
Nokon is a patented alloy gear and brake cable system that offers many benefits over conventional cabling including lighter weight, crisper shifting and more positive braking. At Core we will have the Universal cable kit that is suitable for brakes or gears, mtb or road all in one packet.
Ice Toolz and A2Z both represent great consumer value for money and importantly a high dealer margin. New products for Core are the Hydraulic brake tool range from Ice Toolz and the new 180mm floating disc brake rotors from A2Z.

We will also be running two tech seminars daily on our stand.

3.30pm Marzocchi
4.00pm FSA

We hope to see you there! 

In 2010 Marzocchi completely dropped the ATA travel adjust and reverted to a travel limiting spacer.

Models covered are 44 Micro Ti, 44 TST2, 44RLO, 44LR, Corsa LR, Marathon LR.

For LR models and additional bleed of the LR cartridge may be necessary, for this you need to watch this video:

For a professional service Windwave have ran the official Marzocchi service centre since 1995 and the expertise in this area is second to none, check them out here.

You can also find us on Facebook here!

The new 2012 Marzocchi 55 RC3 Evo Ti has just won a place in the prestigious Dirt 100 for the FORTH year running.

 This is what they had to say;

"With their buttery smooth performance these 170mm travel 55’s provide on amazing level of grip, sticking to the ground at every possible opportunity. Because they are so smooth your body also gets for less of a working-over compared to many other forks, and you can really notice the benefit of this on longer descents and multiple days of riding. They also offer a great level of control and adjustability thanks to the RC3 Evo damping, which has been taken from the 888’s. The only difference is that these only feature a fully interchangeable compression shim stack rather than the rebound as well, but to be honest with the range of external adjustments on offer we doubt many riders will ever need to dip inside. Just like the 888’s these forks are also incredibly reliable and rarely require a service, plus despite being a coil sprung fork they still manage to rival air sprung forks for weight. These are becoming as much a classic as the original Bomber."

The Dirt 100 is available to buy in all good newsagants, vist Dirt here 

Find out more about the 55 here

Follow Marzocchi on Facebook here

ssp  £879.95 (1" 1/8) and £899.95 (tapered)

 

The new 2012 Marzocchi 888 RC3 Evo V2 Ti has just won a place in the prestigious Dirt 100 for the THIRD year running.

This is what they had to say;

"If there’s one thing that sums up how good these forks are it’s that when we offered a new set to a rider who had been testing out a pair for over a year he simply said ‘nah, no point, these ones are still perfect’. Their reliability is something that other forks can only dream of, and despite already being the smoothest forks out of the box they just get better over time, they’re very easy on the body.
The latest V2 damping adds a proper shim stack to the rebound circuit to compliment the one already found in charge of compression, and so even if you can’t get them perfectly dialled using the plethora of external adjusters there are no endless possibilities for internal tuning. Talking of tuning, it has to be said that these forks can benefit from a high quality oil change. Aside from the stellar performance these are also the lightest coil sprung forks around, and it’s great to see Marzocchi have finally adopted the BoXXer bolt pattern for a direct mount stem, If you can put up with a bit more weight than the much cheaper no-titanium version offers near identical performance."

The Dirt 100 is available in all good newsagents now! Dirt Website

Find our more about the 888 here

Follow Marzocchi on facebook here

ssp £1399.95

 

Orbit Option S

New angle adjust headset from FSA, suitable for 1.5" headtubes

Specification

• 1-1/8”, 45° ACB

• Angle Headset

• For 49.57mm ID head tube

• 1-1/8” steerer

• Alloy top cover

• Angleset adjustments ±0.5°, ±1.0°, ±1.5°

• ±0.5° Stack Height 10.4+3.5=13.9mm – item code 101-0001

• ±1.0° Stack Height 10.1+3.7=13.8mm – item code 101-0002

• ±1.5° Stack Height 9.9+3.8=13.7mm – item code 101-0003

• Weight - 108.2 g

Ssp £99.95

Orbit Option T

New angle adjust headset from FSA, suitable for tapered headtubes with 44/ 49.57mm ID

Specification

• 1-1/8”, 45° ACB

• Angle Headset

• For tapered 44mm/ 49.57mm ID head tube

• 1-1/8” steerer

• Alloy top cover

• Angleset adjustments ±0.5°, ±1.0°, ±1.5°

• ±0.5° Stack Height 9.7+3.5=13.2mm – item code 101-0004

• ±1.0° Stack Height 9.7+3.7=13.4mm – item code 101-0005

• ±1.5° Stack Height 9.7+3.7=13.4mm – item code 101-0006

• Weight - 94.8 g

Ssp £99.95

Orbit Option T1

New angle adjust headset from FSA, suitable for tapered headtubes with 44/55.95mm ID

Specification

• 1-1/8”, 45° ACB

• Angle Headset

• For tapered 44mm/ 55.95mm ID head tube

• 1-1/8” steerer

• Alloy top cover

• Angleset adjustments ±0.5°, ±1.0°, ±1.5°

• ±0.5° Stack Height 10.4+3.5=13.9mm – item code 141-0007

• ±1.0° Stack Height 9.7+3.2=12.9mm – item code 141-0008

• ±1.5° Stack Height 9.5+3.5=13mm – item code 141-0009

• Weight - 111.5 g

Ssp £99.95

Orbit Z44

New headset to fit the ID 44mm zero stack headtube to allow the fitting of a tapered steerer tube fork.

Specification

• For 44mm ID head tube

• For 1.5” - 1-1/8” tapered steerer

• Upper bearing 36x45 ACB (Blue seal)

• Lower bearing 1.5” 36x45 ACB (Black seal)

• Stack Height 16.9 + 13.4mm = 30.3mm

• Weight - 129 g

Ssp £59.95

All models available now via all good FSA stockists.

Follow Windwave on Facebook 

Follow FSA on Facebook

 

Back in 2001 there was no such thing as a Dirt Jump fork. At the time dirt jumpers used a XC fork, mostly they just used the fork already fitted to the bike regardless of the quality... Marzocchi, already heavily in to the freeride scene, spotted this gap in the market and developed a DJ specific fork that could withstand the unique stresses this riding style placed the bike under. Moreover Marzocchi made Dirt Jumpers affordable, meaning you needn't use a fork just because it was cheap, you could use the correct fork for your riding style.

There are not many products that can claim to of helped define a riding style, the Marzocchi Dirt Jumper definately did that.

Marzocchi's original text:

Mountain Biking has taken on a whole new look. Before freeriding came along there was just skinny guys dressed in anatomically correct lycra looking for the next hill to hammer up. Now, we have young ballzy baggy pant urban assault riders with big air BMX backgrounds looking for the next 10 foot vertical lip and 30 foot stair gap to launch. dirt Jumping MTB style is about big air, big jumps, rhythm sections, and urban assault, all of which demands a certain type of equipment. Bikes are stronger, frames are hefty, wheels are indestructible, cranks are solid, and now the Dirt Jumper 1 and 2 by Marzocchi complete the package. We combine the thicker walled stanchion tubes and stiffer spring rates as used in the Super and Jnr T forks with the beefiness of our single crown freeride forks to deliver the strongest single crown forks ever made. If you're going DJ big, do it on a Dirt jumper Series, don't risk it on other forks designed to be light, it's not worth the penalty, be safe not sorry.

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